Gifts. That’s what I was given on this show. It appears that July 14 was the day to be in Sacramento. Both Sean O’Brien and Rick Hromadka, longtime Twirl favorites, were going to be in the area, and were available for a visit. So a musical meeting of the minds was going to happen. The two had heard of each other, and are actually scheduled to play on the same night at the IPO Festival in Los Angeles–but hadn’t before met. Until they came to the Sacramento Twirl studios on July 14th.

Sean O’Brien in the Twirl studio

Sean O’Brien came in from the San Francisco Bay Area. He has recorded for years under his own name, and with his band, Sean O’Brien and His Dirty Hands. He’s had a long musical history, going back to the 1980s. He’s been rather prolific in the studio for the last year, releasing an album, an EP, a single, and is putting the finishing touches on another album. The live His Dirty Hands band is a Bay Area mini supergroup, featuring members of Camper Van Beethoven and Chuck Prophet & The Mission Express. His sound is slightly foreboding and ominous, but always rocking. Sean played a couple of songs for us live, in-studio, and let us hear a couple of unmastered tracks from his next album, My Colors Dark. We’ll get him back in the studio once the new album comes out, this fall or winter. http://www.seanobmusic.com/about/

Rick Hromadka in the Twirl studio

Rick Hromadka also has a long and illustrious musical history. He arrived in Los Angeles from New Haven, CT in the early 1990s, and through the years, formed the bands Double Naught Spies, Maple Mars, and Ruby Free. I first heard of Rick at the time the 2010 Maple Mars album, Galaxyland came out, and was instantly in awe of its psychedelic, yet rocking sound. I’ve seen Maple Mars play twice in L.A. over the years. They are powerful live, and could truly play stadiums. Stadium bookers: take note! This year, Maple Mars did a tour from Nashville through New England. Double Naught Spies is going to be doing a reunion show later this summer. And Rick’s busy writing songs that could wind up being used for any or all of those bands, or even solo. He was traveling through the Sacramento area on Saturday, and we were lucky enough to snag him for the show, and get him to do a couple of songs. http://www.maplemars.com/ and https://www.sodastarmusic.com/

And if all that weren’t enough, we also got to play advance pre-release music from Danny Wilkerson’s and Victor Sotelo’s forthcoming solo albums. This show held an abundance of musical gifts for me and the listeners. I hope you enjoy listening!